Week 3 Recap

Report by Olly Nunn

Another week of league action has come and gone, and with it an opportunity for teams to climb the table, stay at the top, and get vital wins on the board.

This week’s roundup starts at Foxhill and District Club, where the local team hosted Thorncliffe’s Finest. Both Foxhill and the Thorns were still searching for their first win of the season after weeks one and two, and the ensuing fixture would prove to be a close affair. The first four singles games were won quite convincingly, with Lewis Wroe and Oliver Perframent both winning 3-0 for the Thorns while Ben Cooper and Jack Walker secured 3-1 victories for Foxhill. The fifth singles match, however, went all the way to a fifth leg, with Dale Blackwell beating Dylan Farmer 3-2 to get what would be an important win for Foxhill in the context of the night. Perframent and Josh Hall brought the Thorns level with a 2-0 win in the first pairs, but the second pairs game was won by Cooper and Walker by the same margin to take the tie for Foxhill. So, at the end of the night, it was Foxhill who took a 4-3 victory and the all-important first win.

Another new winner this week was the Raging Bull, who played at home against the Uni Arms Understudies. Mark Thomson got things off to a good start for the hosts with a 3-0 win over Damien Reed. Although Jack Quinn took one back for the Understudies, beating Adam Chadwick in the second game, from there the Raging Bull were in control. 3-0 wins for Liam Kent and Brian Jones over Cory Van Tongeren and Adam Butcher, followed by a 3-1 victory for Matty Pierce against Jimmy Knott, ensured the home side had guaranteed the win by the end of the singles. And in the pairs games the Raging Bull clinched two further wins, from Jones and Steve Griffiths and Thomson and Pierce, to bring the score line to 6-1 overall.

As well as the impressive margin of victory, the Raging Bull also had moments of quality including a 180 from Jones and a 114 checkout from Thomson. Speaking after the match, their captain, Matty Pierce, was satisfied with his team’s win and progress in the league. ‘We’re a new team, getting to know each other better’, he said. ‘It was good to get a win on the board after the first two losses against Station, overall it’s a happy week for us.’

While the Understudies may have lost, it was a more successful week for the Uni Arms’ other team, the Academicals. The Accy D’s were at home against the Swallownest Miners, although initially it was the visitors who got off to a better start. K Hatfield and Tim Whiting both won close, fifth-leg decider games against Jack Newton and Luke Davies to put Swallownest 2-0 up. The Accy D’s bounced back, however, as Adam Warner beat Matt Spanky 3-0 (with 20 and 17 darters) and Tom Jepson won 3-1 against Tom Tingle to make things level. Joe Hopkins, after unfair stick from his teammates following last week’s game, put in a strong performance to win 3-0 over Ian Gilmartin, giving the Accy D’s a 3-2 lead. This then became 4-2, as Jack Lewis and Lewis Forrest beat Whiting and Hatfield 2-0 in the first pairs. The second pairs also went the way of the Accy D’s, as Joe Burniston and Olly Nunn won 2-0, with Nunn checking out the doubles and Burniston adding flair to the night with a 180. The final score, then, was 5-2 to the Accy D’s.

It was perhaps a night to forget for the Riverside Warriors, as they played the Station Railwaymen at home. The visitors were dominant, with wins for Glen Payne, G Higgins, Pete Roebuck (with a 21 darter), Ryan Goffin (with 15 and 20 darters), and Geoff Higgs in the singles, followed by victories for Higgs and Higgins and Goffin and Roebuck in the pairs, giving them a 7-0 win. Not only that, but the Railwaymen denied the Riverside a single leg on the board, with the margin in legs being an even more impressive 19-0. So quite a statement from the defending champions, and one that keeps them at the top of the league this week.

Elsewhere, the two Woodbourne sides, Vintage and Mouses, met this week. The first game was between Dave Cliffe for Vintage and Steve Caley for the Mouses. Caley took the first leg with a 21 darter, and from there the two exchanged legs up to the fifth, which Caley clinched to win 3-2. The next two games also went to the Mouses, with James Thomas and Glynn Harris both recording 3-1 wins, and a collection of low-dart legs along the way, to put their team one away. The fourth singles game was therefore a must-win for Vintage, and Russ Simmons was able to go 2-1 up on the Mouses’ Jimmy Haslam to keep his team’s hopes alive. However, Haslam recovered, producing 13 and 20 darters (to go with his 21 darter in the second leg) to take the game 3-2 and guarantee a win for the Mouses. The last singles was a walkover for the Mouses, extending their advantage further. Vintage, however, were able to end the night on a high with a fine performance in the pairs, securing both games with wins courtesy of Simmons and Rich Brown and Chris Keane and Mick Hulley. This brought the first round of the Woodbourne derby to a close with a 5-2 victory for the Mouses.

At the end of this week, then, the top three in the league remained unchanged, with wins for the Railwaymen, Mouses, and Accy D’s keeping them close together. Vintage are still fourth, while their first win has brought the Raging Bull up to fifth. It is still early days in the season, though, and with many more months of darts yet to be played, anything can happen!